Monthaversary
by sedork
Summary: It's their first monthaversary. Caskett. One shot


She's sitting on her couch reading War and Peace for the hundredth time when the sound of knocking rouses her. She jumps a bit and then mentally chastises herself. Only a month of suspension in and she's already losing her steel nerves?

"Who is it?" she calls while checking if she's decent. Eh, t-shirt isn't that see-through and the yoga pants aren't too revealing.

"It's me!" She knows that voice. She quickly crosses the room and flips the lock. When she opens the door it's Castle, who seems to be bouncing on his toes. She opens her mouth to greet him but he interrupts.

"It's our monthaversary"

"Our what?!" she says. Of all the things she might have expected him to say.

"Monthaversary." He practically is bursting with the excitement of it.

"What does that even mean Castle?"

"Its pretty self explanatory Beckett. Month-a-ver-sa-ry" He is sounding out the syllables like he would if teaching a toddler a new word. She will not be talked to like a preschooler.

"That's not a thing. That's not even a word!"

"Yes it is. I just made it up"

OK, now he's starting to annoy her. He cant just walk in and start spouting nonsense at her. "You cant just make up words Castle"

"Yes I can. I'm a writer"

"So?"

"Joyce did it. C'mon, what kind of word is quark?!"

"He also wrote a book that is almost impossible to get through. Are you taking Nikki Heat the way of Ulysses?"

"No I like Nikki just the way she is" he replies with a wink. Jeez Castle, she thinks, its not really subtext if you give it away like that.

"Good answer"

"Thought so. Anyways, we're off track. Monthaversary. I'm taking you somewhere" There he goes bouncing again.

"Where?"

"It's a surprise"

"I don't want a surprise, I want to know where you think you are taking me"

"Oh we're going, that's for sure"

"You seem pretty sure of yourself."

"I am. Dress casual. Jeans and comfortable shoes. Ooh and this leather jacket" he says as he hands her her favorite red one from the coat rack.

"You're taking me somewhere I don't know and dictating my clothes? I don't think I like this." She's mostly just being difficult to mess with him. Mostly. He is kinda interrupting her plans of a lazy day and he did push his way into her apartment without so much as a kiss. He deserves a tiny bit of punishment. But he does look pretty hot standing there with his well fitting jeans and that dark blue vee neck tee she loves that brings out his eyes. How she'd love to get her hands under it and her mouth on- whoa, down girl. He deserves punishment.

"C'mon. I'll help you change," he says with his voice pitched low and a hint of an eyebrow wiggle. How can he manage to annoy her and then make her want him in such a short amount of time? Maybe she's still got some of that four years worth of sexual tension left. That much pent up energy can't be burnt off in just one month of sleeping together.

"Why don't we just stay in? Celebrate here?" she suggests with a challenging eyebrow.

"I'd love to, but we have plans. So let's get you changed"

"I hate you" she pouts. Maybe he'll take pity on her and fool around before these plans of his

"Mmmm, not what you said last night. But seriously, different clothes, we're on a schedule" He strides towards her bedroom, presumably to start picking out clothes. She watches him disappear through the doorway, resolutely not following him. Then she registers the fact that he'll be going through her clothes, and that cannot happen.

She hates this. Castle is driving. OK maybe its not the fact that he is driving, but that he wont tell her where they're going and he left her all hot and bothered. He's trying to get her to relax by putting on jazz and slowly rubbing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb. He really is trying to be sweet and, yes she'll admit it, his enthusiasm is kind of cute. OK it's adorable and maybe, just maybe she forgives him for leaving her frustrated. Maybe she should just go with the flow, live in the moment. Isn't that what she tore down all her walls for, to be here with him? Alright universe, she thinks, I get it. Stop and smell the roses and all that. She can do this, she can.

"You're being surprisingly quiet Castle" she says with a small smile.

"Giving you some space so you don't threaten to shoot me" He returns her smile with humor in his eyes.

"I would never-"

"Really?! You threaten to shoot me on a regular basis. I've heard it so much I started hearing it in my dreams."

Pink colors her cheeks and she bites her lip. Gotta stop doing that, she muses. One day he might think that I don't want him around.

"You're right. But I wont threaten to shoot you. At least not today, its our monthaversary" She's trying, she really is.

"That it is" He grins, the kind that crinkles his eyes and twists his jaw and she's glad she could give him that much.

"We're here" Castle singsongs, his excitement running over.

"Where is here?" His excitement is catching. Makes him look childlike. She can just imagine a little boy that looks just like him except with her- stop it Kate, she tells herself. One thing at a time. Whew. Close one.

"You're the Detective! Detect!"

"Oh, okay. Umm, an empty parking lot. A stadium of some sort. Not baseball, wrong shape. Mmm, not football, no grass. Though I suppose it could be a turf field. Why would you take me to a football stadium anyways?"

He shakes his head but gives her an adoring look. Like he loves watching the way her mind works, like he wants to witness the moment it dawns on her. The kind of look that makes her stomach flutter and feels a little like always.

"There's no sign so that's no help" she continues hoping it will cover her racing heart. Oh he's planned something good, she can feel it. "Whats big enough to be in an outdoor stadium but isn't baseball or football. A horse track? No that doesn't make sense. But a track. Wait!" she shoots him a startled look. "A race track. You brought me to a race track? Why?"

He mimics her voice poorly but his words are familiar "We should go to the track sometime Castle, see who laps who"

Her face lights up into one of those smiles she knows he loves. The kind that makes her face hurt, but she just cant help. This man. This sweet man. He remembered that? "You brought me to a race track so I can lap you? I could always just lap you at home" she teases. Shit, did she just say home? She meant at his place. Not home. Maybe someday? Stop it Kate.

He chokes a little at that. Maybe on the innuendo, maybe on her slip. The look in his eyes seems to suggest the slip. When its the innuendo, she can see the arousal in his eyes. In the way his pupils dilate and the sky blue of his irises turn dark. That's when he gets all- dammit Kate, not now.

"I thought we could finally see who is the better driver. And by that I mean me." His brag is bold but she can tell it's half halfhearted. He doesn't care if she beats him, as long as she comes home with him.

"Like you could" She rolls her eyes. Who does he think he is? She took tactical driving classes at the academy.

"Challenge accepted"

"Okay, Writer Man, let's see what you got"

"That's for later Beckett. Right now we're racing" There's the tease she's been expecting.

Later, after much lapping, both literal and metaphorical, she whispers in his ear, "Best monthaversary ever Castle". His face cracks into a smile as they both drift to sleep.


End file.
